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28th Shock Troops Battalion
|events=* *Battle of Bellerophon *Battle of Miridem *Battle of Orthiad *Siege of Victoria *Battle of Adrastos * *Fall of New Carthage * * *Battle of Sydney * |active= |affiliation= United Nations Space Command Marine Corps }} The 28th Shock Troops Battalion was a UNSC Marine Corps Shock Troops Battalion that served during and after the Human-Covenant War. Subordinate to the , the 28th Battalion was composed of ODSTs, an elite group of Marines specialising in special warfare tactics. The 28th Battalion was noted for its legendary esprit de corps, exceptional discipline and unparalleled aggression, which resulted from its hundreds of operations throughout the Human-Covenant War, predominantly against the . The 28th's combat record against the Covenant was comparatively successful, with its operations largely being tactical or strategic victories; this was to change at the , where the unit lost over seventy five percent of its number to enemy action. Despite this numerical weakness, the 28th Battalion subsequently fought during the prolonged Battle of Earth, scoring a key victory against the Covenant by keeping out of their hands until its destruction. Later, the battalion's remnants travelled to aboard [[UNSC Forward unto Dawn (FFG-201)|UNSC Forward unto Dawn]], [[UNSC Aegis Fate (StoneGhost)|UNSC Aegis Fate]] and [[UNSC Death's Head (FFG-2714)|UNSC Death's Head]], participating in the climatic . Following the war's conclusion, the battalion was immediately deployed in providing humanitarian aid and security on war-ravaged Earth. History Battle of Miridem Battle of Orthiad Siege of Victoria Battle of Adrastos Siege of Paris IV Fall of New Carthage Battle of Reach In 2552, most of the 28th Battalion was garrisoned on Reach, where it participated in joint training with the UNSC Army and Navy, practicing orbital drops and close combat; the battalion was on-world when the began. Alpha and Charlie Companies deployed to the surface while and Delta remained embarked with the UNSC to safeguard against future boarders. Alpha Company were tasked with weakening the Covenant in preparation for the , with the ODSTs dropped in squads behind enemy lines. Here they destroyed several anti-aircraft and anti-vehicle weapon emplacements twenty minutes before the main attack, afterwards fighting off waves of Covenant infantry before being relieved by UNSC Army forces, taking moderate casualties. Charlie Company was deployed to to assist UNSC Army forces in eradicating the Covenant presence, which they did with minimal losses. Alpha Company fought alongside the UNSC Army against Covenant forces at Szurdok Ridge until the destruction of the heavy frigate and the retreat of the . Following this, the ODSTs assisted in eradicating surviving Covenant ground forces, before being withdrawn. After the destruction of the supercarrier by , a larger Covenant force arrived, engaging the UNSC Navy and attacking Reach's population centres. During the orbital battle that ensued, much of Delta Company were killed either through the destruction of their vessel or, in some cases, by Covenant boarding parties. The surviving members of Alpha Company were redeployed to , while Charlie Company were stationed in , where both companies assisted civilians escape from Covenant infantry, fighting street-to-street against superior numbers and taking heavy casualties. A small unit from Alpha Company was then transported by Pelican to , where they assisted Noble Team in getting inside the base to destroy it. Doing so with minimal casualties, these ODSTs were later picked up by the ''Remembrance''-class frigate [[UNSC Aegis Fate (StoneGhost)|UNSC Aegis Fate]], which redeployed them to Orbital Defense Generator Facility A-92. At the generator they joined with the remains of Alpha and Charlie Companies, which had taken heavy casualties. For almost four hours the marines held off sustained attacks by the Covenant, until the return of the Aegis Fate. The frigate was retreating following the UNSC's defeat in orbit, and entered the atmosphere to lose several Covenant vessels chasing it; en route it stopped to pick up survivors from several sites including the ODG A-92. After this, the frigate left the system and returned to via indirect slipspace jump, during which time the surviving ODSTs and Marines received medical treatment. During the battle, the Battalion had taken the highest losses in its history, with over seventy five percent of its servicemen killed or missing; the vast majority of Delta Company were killed aboard the UNSC Navy fleet in orbit, while most of Bravo Company were killed as their vessels tried to arrive from nearby . Alpha and Charlie Companies combined lost over half of their number during their prolonged surface action. Following the battle, the battalion was partially renumerated with recruits and transfers from other units; the surviving battalion members were stationed in Earth's orbit on the cruiser [[UNSC Absolution (CG-301)|UNSC Absolution]] and the frigates [[UNSC Reliant Warrior (FFG-2919)|UNSC Reliant Warrior]] and [[UNSC Death's Head (FFG-2714)|UNSC Death's Head]]. Battle of Earth The Battle of Earth began just before 09:00 on October 20, 2552. Absolution, as part of Admiral Jackson's 1st Home Defence Group, was tasked with the protection of orbital defence platforms in the Oceania and Southeast Asia areas. Both Reliant Warrior and Death's Head joined the cruiser in this role, keeping the battalion together. Unlike the 11th Shock Troops Battalion, the 28th did not deploy groundside to fight as soon as battles on the surface broke out. Instead, they remained embarked to repel any Covenant boarders as the three vessels engaged in fighting, due to a shortage of Marines on board. The 28th remained onboard these three vessels as they participated in combat in Earth's orbit. At 13:35, two platoons from Alpha Company and two from Delta Company deployed via Pelicans to [[UNSC Resurgence (FFG-3014)|UNSC Resurgence]], a damaged Remembrance-class frigate in a repair cradle, to repel Covenant boarders. The ODSTs fought in microgravity conditions with adapted weapons and zero-G equipment, killing or repelling all the Sangheili Rangers for relatively few casualties. In doing so they prevented the Covenant from gaining sensitive UNSC data, although the navigational core itself was stored on Earth's surface. Immediately after this, the ODSTs were retrieved, and prepared to deploy to Sydney with the rest of the 28th. Back on board the ships, the entire 28th Battalion prepared for full deployment to within Sydney itself. Whilst Absolution was deploying ODSTs directly above Sydney, she was engaged by several Covenant vessels attempting to destroy a key satellite relaying communications from HIGHCOM. RPV-class destroyer and its complement of Seraphs. After destroying a Covenant corvette, the vessels were engaged by a superior force of Covenant boarding craft, Seraphs and an . While the destroyer was destroyed by Absolution's MAC fire with assistance from the two frigates, she was severely damaged in the trade of fire by several volleys of plasma torpedoes and sustained attack from the Seraphs. The order was given by Lieutenant Grunwald, seniormost surviving bridge officer, to abandon ship, as the Seraphs continued to assault the ship with plasma fire and bombs and boarding craft made their approach. The frigates, having deployed their lesser complement of ODSTs, were ordered away from the stricken cruiser and its critical reactor. The resulting explosion destroyed Absolution, along with all who remained aboard her, as well as the communications satellite and most of the Seraphs. Of the 28th's four combat Companies, only Alpha and Bravo made it to Sydney, both taking casualties from Seraph and Banshee fire en route; Alpha having been deployed from Absolution before her destruction and Bravo from Reliant Warrior. Delta Company took severe casualties from the pursuing starfighters and was forced entirely off course, whilst Charlie Company was completely wiped out whilst trying to launch from the cruiser. The Battalion's Headquarters and Service Company saw half its number killed, along with seventy percent of the ship's crew, either not reaching escape pods in time or being intercepted in the air. In addition, the Battalion's highest-ranking officer, Lieutenant Colonel Jack Gibson, was killed aboard Absolution as he tried to find a way off the stricken vessel. The destruction of one of HIGHCOM's key satellites hindered coordination of defences in Australia itself, though did not impact communications with other regions. Battle of Installation 00 Notable Members *Michael Robson *Amelia Dawson *Leonard Bishop *Callum Nash *Ryan Phillips *Jory Hansen